Features

Becoming a parent is one of the most significant events in many people’s lives and for some they may choose to consider the option of surrogacy. Surrogacy is when a woman carries and gives birth to a baby for another person or couple, known as the “intended parent(s)”. There are tw

Benjamin Bestgen and Alexander Jeuk discuss the practicalities of rebalancing the scales of justice making the legal system accessible to everyone. The complaint that the law tends to favour the wealthy and powerful while being much less available to the impecunious is not new. And there is much evi

A recent disclosure to Companies House highlights the value that UK businesses can derive from taking out cyber insurance cover, writes Christian Toon. The Law Gazette reported how the company behind conveyancing firm Simplify was able to recover from its insurance provider the majority of cost

The many, and systematically horrible, events in the southern states of America over many years in the middle of the last century are described in Margaret Burnham’s new book By Hands Now Known: Jim Crow’s Legal Executioners. The phrase ‘Jim Crow’ is an American shorthand for

The next few months are set to see two important cases making their way through the Court of Session, both of which concern the meaning of sex within the Equality Act. The first is the appeal of Petition of for Women Scotland [2022] CSOH 90 and the decision of Lady Haldane that sex means sex as modi

Scottish Legal News editor Kapil Summan speaks to historian and former Supreme Court justice, Jonathan Sumption, Lord Sumption, at his home in London. They discuss criminal reforms; the limits of law; the decline in legislative drafting in the UK; free speech and the need to stand up to the new cult

But a city is more than a place in space. It is a drama in time. Edinburgh is - the most condensed example, the visible microcosm of the social evolution which is manifest everywhere in the city. – Patrick Geddes. Keynote lecture, London University, July 1904 Few innovative thinkers have been

New figures showing that the number of people dying as a result of workplace incidents in Scotland has reached its highest level since 2019 have prompted urgent calls for reforms to corporate homicide legislation, writes Bruce Craig. Provisional data published by the Scottish Trades Union Congress (

It can be tempting to skip over environmental clauses in leases as just being "boilerplate". However, in the context of environmental contamination, to do so could have unexpected and costly implications for landlords and tenants. In the current market, environmental and sustainability provisions ar

In the second of two letters, retired solicitor Chris Forrest details his experiences with the Law Society of Scotland. In my last letter I narrated the circumstances giving rise to my complaints to SLCC which arose from my perceived conduct of the Director of Regulation at the Law Society and how t

Operators of sports stadia, concert venues, places of worship, hospitals, universities and other public premises where people congregate will be placed under a statutory duty to assess and address the risk of terrorist attacks under new legislation drafted by the UK government. Publication of the Te

In the first of two letters, retired solicitor Chris Forrest details his experiences with the Law Society of Scotland. Dear Editor,

When a partner of a law firm contacts me about their marketing efforts, I often sense their caution. More often than not, I learn that they have previously been “burned” by a marketer who promised the world but ultimately lacked the tools to deliver. Developing a successful legal marketi

Jack Boyle of Blackadders examines a recent case concerning an allegation of discrimination arising from disability. Employers will be familiar with the requirement to take into account all the circumstances of the case in any particular disciplinary scenario. The usual factors such as the employee&

Fiona Cameron, banking partner in Shoosmiths’ Glasgow office, examines the significance of the recently passed Moveable Transactions (Scotland) Bill and outlines why it’s likely to be welcomed by Scotland’s banking practitioners and lenders. To the frustration of Scottish banking l